3 Reasons We Give Side-Eye to Leashes on a Woman

Vixen

After the wasteful exuberance of another Halloween comes to an end, we now have to deal with consequences of everyone’s costume choices. In our age of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, anyone with a connection and interest has access to the Halloween costume tomfoolery that happens across this great country. From NHL star Raffi Torres’ decision to darken his skin to resemble his idol Jay-Z to the thoughtful Students Teaching About Racism in Society (STARS) campaign, which raised much needed awareness to the offensive ethnic caricatures, there is no doubt that when it comes to Halloween costumes, Americans still have a long way to go to find balance between taboo and disrespect.

So when our favorite comedic rapper Chris “Ludacris” Bridges–along with his intelligent, doctor girlfriend, Eudoxie–stepped out on Halloween dressed as, I think, Jack Hanna and a cheetah, respectively, I could not help but cringe on their playful display of misogyny. I’m sorry but my psyche processed the leash, the outfits and the disposition of these two famous thirty-somethings as either naive or ignorant to the gender politics which accompany such a spectacle.

I really like Ludacris as an witty lyricist, and I like Chris Bridges as a philanthropic person. Who showed up this party? Was this a contrived attempt to rev-up Ludacris’ into hyper-masculinity in order to revive his dormant rap career? Nowadays, we never really know who an entertainer is coming into public sphere as, but with debates on corporate personhood rampant, I guess it’s fashionable to do something damaging yet take minimal responsibility for one’s actions. Luckily, this fact doesn’t stop me from writing.

Either way, hopefully we can all agree that the leash on Luda’s woman was in poor taste, but if you don’t, here are three reasons why leashes on a woman might seem offensive to some…